Cathay Pacific is introducing new branded inflight amenity kits for first- and business-class passengers on long-haul flights. The kits, created exclusively for Cathay by Crabtree&Evelyn, will contain a different line of products on inbound and outbound Hong Kong flights. The men's kit, in a navy blue bag, contains lip balm, shaving cream, moisturizing lotion, socks, eye shade, toothbrush, toothpaste, razor and ear plugs.
Atlantic Coast Airlines this week announced a new flight schedule beginning Jan. 31 that will mean more regional jet service to four markets and increased frequencies in five cities. ACA will upgrade its hourly scheduled Dulles-Raleigh/Durham, N.C., by offering five of its current 15 daily departures on 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets and adding one frequency. ACA currently offers three jet flights on that route. The new service will bring to 16 its total daily Dulles-Raleigh/Durham flights.
Rep. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has conceded defeat to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in their close Senate race last month because an ongoing recount in Washoe County, the most populous Nevada county, shows him cutting only marginally into Reid's lead. Reid is a member of the Senate Appropriations transportation subcommittee. Ensign told The Las Vegas Review-Journal that he "didn't win enough [votes] in Washoe County to turn this over." He trimmed Reid's 401-vote lead to 379 votes, based on completed recounts in all other counties.
Vanguard Airlines is offering a special fare for the holidays, starting at $29 for nonstop flights, $49 for one-stops and $69 for two-stops. Travlers must make reservations by today for travel through Jan. 5.
Indianapolis-based Chautauqua Airlines, a US Airways Express carrier, flew 14.7% more traffic on 11.5% more capacity in November 1998 than in November last year, causing the load factor to climb 1.1 percentage points to 51.1%. Chautauqua reported 13.8 million revenue passenger miles and 27.1 million available seat miles. Passengers flown grew 14.7% to 62,786. Nov. 1998 Nov. 1997 11 Mths 1998 11 Mths 1997 RPMs 13,837,600 12,067,600 154,979,000 141,811,100
Frank Lanza, chairman and chief executive of L-3 Communications Holding, and Joe Paresi, president of L-3 Communications Security Systems, discuss aviation security issues, and new explosives detection system technology on Aviation News Today, to air Sunday on Washington's NewsChannel 8 at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
US Airways has begun installing defibrillators and electrocardiogram monitors on board its fleet. The airline selected the LIFEPAK 500 defibrillator made by Medtronic Physio-Control, which supplies defibrillator equipment to hospitals and emergency medical services providers. US Airways will equip its fleet with a separate ECG monitor, the Biolog 3000 hand-held made by Micromedical Industries Ltd.
U.S. Major Carriers Systemwide Share of Service Third Quarter 1998 Total Revenue Departures Alaska 45,008 America West 51,476 American 201,191 Continental 117,590 Delta 243,463 Northwest 114,770 Southwest 196,770 TWA 71,385 United 209,062
This week's TWA aircraft orders (DAILY, Dec. 10) will add three engine types from three manufacturers to the carrier's fleet.The 717-200 uses the BMW Rolls-Royce BR715 engine, the A318 launches the Pratt&Whitney PW6000 and the A320 offers the CFM International CFM56 or the International Aero Engines V2500.
Qantas will code share on British Airways' three-times-weekly roundtrip service between Sydney and London via Kuala Lumpur, beginning Dec. 10. The deal, reflecting a new aviation agreement between Australia and Malaysia, involves London departures on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and Sydney returns on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. BA and Qantas opened a joint lounge at Kuala Lumpur's new international airport in September.
Minneapolis-based Mesaba Airlines, which operates as Northwest Airlink, reported a 46.1% jump in traffic to 99.2 million revenue passenger miles last month as capacity climbed 34.8% to 176.3 million available seat miles, pushing up the load factor up 4.4 percentage points to 56.9%. Boardings were up 44.5% to 400,300. Nov. 1998 Nov. 1997 11 Mths 1998 11 Mths 1997 RPMs 99,179,000 67,867,000 947,785,000 608,481,000 ASMs 174,325,000 129,286,000 1,698,383,000 1,118,544,000
Worldspan told DOT this week it should continue its comprehensive analysis of computer reservations system-related issues despite a petition filed Nov. 18 by the Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA) asking the agency to take an expedited approach. ARTA said the latest round of commission cuts spurred by United Nov. 12 imperils the existence of travel agents and asked DOT to expedite the decision-making process on its CRS rulemaking.
Europe could decide early in 1999 on its future direction and role in satellite-based radionavigation, and the U.S. appears "cautiously optimistic" that the European Union will continue to rely on the Global Positioning System or a system based on GPS. But Europe is insisting on development of an international Global Navigation Satellite System Convention on Liability, a concept the U.S. rejects.
Air France traffic for November rose 4.7% on 6.5% more capacity, which forced the load factor down 1.2 percentage points to 72.5%. Cargo traffic rose 0.2% to 442 million freight ton kilometers.
American has signed a code-share and marketing alliance with Venezuela's Aeropostale. If government approval is granted, American's "AA" code will appear on Aeropostale flights from Miami to Caracas - a route American currently serves - as well as on service to Maracaibo and Porlamar in Venezuela and between San Juan and Caracas. American also would gain access beyond the three Venezuelan points to other cities in Latin America.
Delta is offering holiday fares on its web site at www.delta-air.com for travel Dec. 15-Jan. 31. Passengers can earn up to 1,000 bonus frequent flyer miles for booking through Delta's SkyLinks reservations and using electronic ticketing. The miles bonus offer is valid for bookings and travel through Feb. 28. Roundtrip Internet fares include $118 Atlanta-Raleigh/Durham, $198 Buffalo-New Orleans and $158 Savannah-Washington Dulles. Separately, Delta is promoting Portland-Boston service introduced earlier this year with a $205 roundtrip, valid through April 2.
Harbor Air, Gig Harbor, Wash., has acquired a second Cessna Grand Caravan. Harbor Air, an Alaska Airlines partner, with the acquisition of its first Caravan last August, was the first scheduled airline in the continental U.S. to operate the aircraft since FAA's recent rule change allowing the single-engine turboprop to be operated in commercial passenger service in most weather.
British Aerospace Asset Management-Jets has sold two BAe 146-200 aircraft to Lombard Leasing, a unit of the Lombard Asset Finance Group. The price was more than $22 million. Both aircraft are on long-term lease to Eurowings until March and April 2004.
A U.S. delegation tried to persuade the European Union to delay its plans to ban hushkitted aircraft during a three-day visit to Brussels that ended yesterday, but the lobbying seems to be too late. The EU Council of Ministers reached agreement on the issue in October in Luxembourg, and the ban "is a done deal," the spokeswoman for EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock said yesterday in Brussels.
U.S. Major Carriers Domestic Share of Service Third Quarter 1998 Total Revenue Departures Alaska 43,352 America West 50,594 American 169,036 Continental 102,264 Delta 231,570 Northwest 107,718 Southwest 196,770 TWA 69,383 United 193,354
Cabin crew of former French airline TAT may strike and disrupt the traffic of British Airways' French subsidiary Air Liberte "in the coming days," said cabin crew union Syndicat National du Personnel Navigant Commercial this week in Paris. Last year, BA merged its two French subsidiaries, TAT and low-cost airline Air Liberte. Employees of the former TAT claim management wants to chop 40% off their salaries by 2002. TAT's management said the union's figures were wrong but confirmed that a "harmonization of pay" is planned.
Sun Airways, a new charter carrier, will begin operations Dec. 18 from San Juan with service to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. The carrier will offer $299 roundtrip fares on the routes, served with Boeing 727-200s painted in "Sun and Fun" purple and orange. The fares are 50% off prevailing fares, it said. Sun expects to add service to Washington Dulles and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, on Jan. 2, when it receives its second 727.
Continental Express President David Siegel, speaking as his company took delivery of the 100th ERJ-145, said CoEx looked at both the Bombardier CRJ and the ERJ-145 for over a year. "We preferred the Embraer jet and we preferred the Bombardier financing, but we went with the better aircraft," Siegel said. CoEx is committed to an all-jet fleet within five years but will remain flexible, he said, about whether to accelerate or decelerate phaseout of turboprops. He said CoEx would retire the entire Brasilia fleet but may keep some ATRs longer than expected.
Raytheon said it has completed installing, in partnership with Chile's air navigation service, two satellite navigation test bed reference stations in Santiago and Balmaceda. The test beds, the first of their kind in South America, will support evaluation of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) concept for improving the Global Positioning System in Chilean airspace. John Britigan, manager of Raytheon's Landing and Navigation Systems, said flight trials are being conducted this month to demonstrate the system's operational capabilities.
